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Simply but a dream, Thai Elephant Home, Thailand

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March 15, 2014

Day 3

Thai Elephant Home

It was a difficult morning. Jason wasn’t sure what hurt more—his
throat from fighting off sickness, his head from drinking too much the
night before, his chafed knees from squeezing too hard or his heart from
having to say goodbye to his elephant. We were all dragging, knowing
we would have to say goodbye today. Breakfast was very quiet as we
toasted our bread over the open fire. The excitement of Ella performing
in the show that day played as a good distraction. She was equally
excited and nervous because this meant she would have to perform her
least favorite approach to getting on her elephant in front of many
people—over the head. After the morning prayer to Ganesh—her show went
off without a hitch. It was great to watch everyone in complete
amazement as the girls spoke Thai commands to their elephants and got on
and off with such ease and grace—we had all come a long way since just 2
days ago.

It was all so funny to watch the elephants herd towards everyone as
they panicked and fumbled, surrendering their entire bunches of bananas.
(sound familiar?) This had to be the best entertainment for the
elephants everyday!! We felt such a kinship with our elephants. I really
was struggling to imagine how long it would be until we could return.
The transformation was nothing like what we expected… who knew 3 days
could be so impactful and life changing. It was refreshing.

As we boarded the bus back—my feelings could not have been more
opposite from the first day when I questioned whether we could last the
full 3 days. The fact was we were attempting to figure out how we could
stay even longer… as we pulled away we all strained peering out the
back window attempting to say one final good bye.

When we arrived back to our luxurious hotel in Chaing Mai we were
greeted with cool fresh mint rosemary soaked towels and a refreshing
cocktail of our choice. As we sat in the air-conditioned plush
lobby—waiting to be escorted to our room by the Bellman carrying all of
our luggage–our two worlds were colliding. I struggled to figure, which I
preferred. The longer I sat soaking in the luxury, the more the past
few days began to seem… simply but a dream.